Seventy-One. Rune
SEVENTY-ONE
RUNE
TOGETHER, THEY STUMBLED INTO the dark car, windswept and breathing hard. The train rattled and clinked. Rune pressed her palm to the wall of the cramped hallway as it lurched on its tracks, trying to keep her balance. Trying to catch her breath.
When she glanced at Gideon, she found him leaning against the opposite wall, staring at her. Through the windows, the sun was almost below the horizon.
Rune gazed at this mountain of a boy. The one who’d risked his life alongside her. A boy who’d proven, again and again, they were better together than apart.
Why in the world had she left him?
Because I’m afraid of losing him.
Except running away meant losing him. Voluntarily.
What had she been thinking?
Rune never should have asked him to leave with her. In doing so, she’d asked him to go against his conscience. His goodness . She knew perfectly well what it would have cost Gideon to accept her offer. And she’d asked him anyway.
It was like Rune had changed places with Alex, who’d begged her to run away, and in doing so, proven he hadn’t really known her at all.
“Are you all right?” he asked, breaking the silence.
Rune barely heard his question. She was remembering the other train pulling out of the station, remembering her reflection in the glass.
“You asked me once if I wanted children,” she said.
He tilted his head, as if this was the last thing he’d expected her to say.
“I want three.”
Rune had seen them that day in the yellow house, while bullets whizzed over her and Gideon’s heads: three little ones laughing as they ran through a field of wildflowers.
She had known immediately they were Gideon’s. But this evening, while studying her reflection in the train window, she realized they were also hers . She’d seen their features in her face.
Rune was scared to even hope for it: a family of her own. People to belong to. She didn’t know if it was a true vision, or fanciful thinking. All she knew was she wanted it. Wanted them .
But in order to have them, she had to stay.
Gideon ran a hand through his dark hair, glancing to the window.
“This train is going south,” he said. “That means the next station is a few hours away. We can get off in that yard, and I can help you hop another one. Or we can find a harbor that hasn’t been infiltrated and get you on a boat.”
She frowned.
That wasn’t exactly the response she’d hoped for.
“Gideon, I just said—”
“You want a family one day.” He dragged his attention away from the window, fixing it on her. The look on his face seemed… sad. “I understand. It’s why you want to escape.”
“No.” Rune stepped toward him, shaking her head. “I mean, yes . But…” She reached for his lapels, gripping them with both hands, anchoring herself to him against the train’s jolt. “I’m offering you terms, Gideon.”
He frowned at her, confused.
“Do you still want me to stay?”
Lifting a hand to her hair, he tucked a wild strand behind her ear. “More than anything.”
“There’s something I want, too. Something that would make me stay.”
He was watching her closely now. “I’m listening.”
She lowered her gaze to his throat, suddenly feeling uncertain. What if he didn’t want the same thing?
“Sometimes,” she said, staring hard at the collar of his jacket, “I fantasize about being your wife.”
His eyebrows shot toward his forehead. “Really?” He grinned, clearly pleased. “Your fantasies are a lot more wholesome than…” The grin slid away. “Wait. What are you saying?”
He pressed his thumb to her chin, forcing her gaze back to his.
“I want to be your wife, Gideon.”
The pulse in his throat kicked. “And these children you also want… they’re our children?”
“I’m pretty sure that’s how it works, yes.” More quietly, she said: “Is that all right?”
Gideon plunged his fingers into her hair. “All right?” He pressed his forehead to hers. “Rune. Being married to you would be the honor of my life. You’re saying you’ll stay and fight, if I marry you?”
“More or less.” She ran a hand up his chest to rest against his heart. “Is that extortion?”
His mouth curved. “I’ll happily be extorted by you.”
Tugging off his riding gloves, he dropped them one by one to the floor. Lifting his bare hands to her face, he slid his palms along her jaw, tender but firm. The feel of his bare skin against hers filled Rune with a yearning so powerful, she feared she might die of its absence.
His eyes were downcast, staring at her mouth.
“Do you remember on the Arcadia , when I woke you from that dream?”
A blush crept up her neck.
Merciful Ancients. He couldn’t just forget about that?
“You never told me what it was about.”
Her entire body prickled with embarrassment. “You really can’t drop this?”
He shook his head and bent to press his lips against her neck.
“Maybe we can talk about it later?” she said.
“It’ll be hours until we reach the next station,” he murmured, his lips a soft graze.
Rune clenched her fists as he kissed down her throat, remembering the dream all too vividly. The steam from the boilers. The heat of their growing anger. The press of his—
“We were…”
She swallowed.
“You were… touching me.”
“Touching you?” Gideon glanced up with a sly smile. “Like this?” He ran a hand slowly down her arm, raising the hairs there. Rune shivered, but shook her head.
“Show me.”
“Why is this so important to you?”
“The way you said my name that night…” He ran the backs of his fingers up the buttons of her blouse. Rune’s stomach pinched with desire as he stopped to undo the uppermost one. “I want to hear you say it like that again.”
The words made her flush.
“Gideon—”
His fingers undid the next button while his dark eyes locked with hers, like a dare. She knew what those hands could do, and that mouth. He’d shown her before.
And because she couldn’t resist him—or a challenge—Rune stared him down as she untucked her blouse from her pants.
She felt the pulse in his wrist quicken as she took his hand in hers, sliding it under the silk, pressing his calloused palm against her stomach. His pupils dilated as she showed him exactly what she wanted: guiding his hand to her breast and cupping the soft curve with his palm, the way he did in her dream.
His thumb stroked, making her hum with pleasure.
“What else?” His voice was low as he nudged her temple with his.
Rune glanced around. But there was no one on this train except them—and, presumably, the conductor at the other end.
She undid the buttons of her pants, and took his other hand. Pressing his palm between her hip bones, she guided his fingers down between her thighs. His breath shuddered. The air crackled between them as his hand pressed into her soft warmth.
She did not take her eyes away from his face.
Gideon needed no instruction this time. They stared at each other as his hand moved against her, fingers stroking, warming. He slid one inside her and Rune clenched around him, gasping.
“This is what you dreamed of that night?” He sounded breathless. “This?”
She nodded, her body temperature rising along with the pleasure he was stoking. Her hands slid up the hard planes of his chest. Looping her arms around his neck, she pushed up on her toes and dug her fingers into his hair, sealing his mouth with hers.
Kissing Gideon was like coming home. A steadying force, reminding her of who she was, and where she belonged.
“Rune…”
The way he breathed her name set her blood on fire.
His fingers plunged inside her, deep and insistent. Like he knew exactly what he was doing.
Rune arched against his hand.
“Gideon.”
But instead of finishing, he pulled away.
The loss of him unbalanced Rune. “Wh-what are you doing?”
Glancing to the doors in this hallway, he stepped toward one and opened it, revealing an empty storage room. “This is a passenger train.”
“So?” Annoyed by his lack of attention, of devotion , Rune tried to drag his eyes back to her by tugging off her blouse and dropping it on the floor.
Gideon’s gaze zipped to the strap of her bralette.
“So…” he said, stepping toward her. “Passenger trains have sleeper cars.”
His arms locked around her waist as he pulled her against him. Rune tugged his mouth back to hers, kissing him as he walked her backward, toward the door between this car and the next. He opened it, still kissing her, and a rush of icy wind came howling in.
Rune yelped in surprise. Gideon ran his hands down her bare arms, which had erupted in goose bumps. Trying to warm her.
The wind whipped through their hair and clothes. It was twilight, and the stars were freckling the black sky overhead.
“Ready?” he called over the howling wind and rattling train, holding out his hand to her.
“This is madness!” she laughed, grabbing his hand and following him from one platform to the next.
When he opened the next door, Rune stepped inside another storage car.
“Let’s just stay here,” she said, pushing him up against the wall and peeling off his jacket.
“Tempting,” he said as the train lurched. “But no.”
He started toward the next door, kissing and caressing and coaxing her along with him. Rune unbuttoned his shirt as they went, pushing it off and pressing her mouth to the scar on his chest. Exploring him with her lips, tasting him with her tongue.
Gideon pressed a hand to the wall, his breath hitching. For a moment, he seemed about to give in to her. But he rallied and pulled open the door, dragging her to the next car.
Several more cars strewn with several more pieces of clothing later, they found what they were looking for: the sleeper car.
It was full night by then, and only the moon’s light flooded in through the windows. Gideon chose a room and pulled her inside, stripping off their undergarments as he guided her to the bunk.
“Tell me what you like,” she whispered in the darkness, her hands wandering over him as he laid her down in the crisp sheets.
“I like you,” he murmured into her hair, kneeling between her legs. About to finish what he’d started several train cars ago.
She shook her head. That wasn’t good enough.
The last time they’d done this, Gideon had known exactly how to please her. As if Rune was a locked door and he had the only key to open her.
Rune wanted to be that for him.
He lowered himself on top of her—gently, so as not to aggravate the fresh scars on her back—and started tracing a line down her body with his mouth.
“When you’re alone,” she said, undeterred, pushing herself up on her elbows, “and you think about us, together, what are we doing?”
He glanced up from where his lips were pressed to her thigh. “Do you think about that?”
She looked away, smiling. “Answer the question, Gideon.”
He seemed about to protest, but instead reached up into her hair, still bound in a messy braid.
“I think about doing this.”
He tugged it loose, so it fell over her shoulder.
“And this.”
He rolled onto his back and pulled her on top of him. Rune laughed as she straddled his hips.
“And… this.”
Sitting up, he cupped her neck, bringing her mouth to his. Rune hummed low in her throat as he kissed her hungrily. His arm slid around her waist, sealing them together as he slowly rocked against her. Showing her what he wanted.
The fire in her belly grew hotter and brighter with every rocking thrust.
Grabbing hold of the bunk overhead, Rune rolled her hips to meet him. Paying attention to his breath, his pulse, the way he groaned when she did something he really liked, and then did more of that. Until they found their perfect rhythm.
She marveled at the magic of it. Like there was something far bigger than themselves binding them together. Working like a fiery spell.
“Rune.” He spoke her name like an incantation. “Rune.” His fingers plunged into her hair. “If you don’t slow down, I’m going to—”
She cradled his face in her hands. “I want you to, my love.”
His eyes gazed up at her, tender, defiant. Trying to resist. To hold off and wait for her.
Rune narrowed her eyes at him, determined to win, until he laughed aloud. It was his laugh that did her in—the sound of his love and delight. She lost herself in it. Pressing her forehead to his, she let the fire overtake her, too.
They made love like it was the last time. Like they wouldn’t survive tomorrow.
Just in case they didn’t.